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Action needed to protect Municipal Tree Ordinances

You may not be aware, but municipal tree ordinances are under attack by the Governor of Texas and the Texas legislature. In the published list of 20 items Texas Governor Greg Abbott wants to do in the special session of the Texas Legislature (beginning today, July 18, 2017) is to eliminate municipal tree ordinances. Specifically, House Bill 70 by State Rep. Paul Workman and Senate Bill 14 by State Sen. Bob Hall would forbid local governments and homeowner's associations from protecting trees from developers who want to clear cut.

We all know the many benefits of trees in an urban environment; shade, property value, air pollution filters, erosion prevention, urban cooling effect, etc. Of course, for FWAS, the obvious benefit of trees is habitat for birds. Along with this, every tree that is cut down increases the need for storm water and flood controls downstream, which taxpayers foot the bill for. Fewer big trees means increased energy bills for consumers because there's less shade. Landowners pay higher irrigation bills because the soil doesn't hold water, and even renters should be concerned as that cost gets passed along to them with increased rent.

If you do not like the thought of this legislation, or simply feel that cities should be able to pass and retain ordinances without state intervention, please tell our state legislators about it. The Special Legislative Session will last for 30 days, so there is not much time to stop this legislation. You can send send letters and/or E-mails on your own to your state legislators and the leaders of the Texas House and Senate, and we definitely encourage you to at least share this with people you know.

To make the process of contacting your state representatives a lot easier, simply click on the link below, which is to a "fill-in-the-blank" online petition setup by the Texas Campaign for the Environment. It will take your address data and automatically send an E-mail directly to your specific representatives and those who need to hear from you. The petition against the house and senate bills is already written out for you, but you can review and alter it how you wish before submitting it. Here is that link: https://www.texasenvironment.org/pet...inances-texas/